More flooding expected as deadly nor'easter moves out to sea

People along the Northeast coast braced for more flooding during high tides Saturday even as the powerful storm that inundated roads, snapped trees and knocked out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses moved hundreds of miles out to sea.

Posted: Mar 3, 2018 11:44 AM

Posted By: Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) - People along the Northeast coast braced for more flooding during high tides Saturday even as the powerful storm that inundated roads, snapped trees and knocked out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses moved hundreds of miles out to sea.

Areas from Maryland to Maine remained under flood warnings. Officials in eastern Massachusetts, where dozens of people were rescued from high waters overnight, warned of another round of flooding during high tides expected around noon.

Authorities on Saturday reported two more deaths from the storm, bringing the total to at least seven in the Northeast. A 25-year-old man in Stamford, Connecticut, and a 57-year-old man in Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania - outside Philadelphia - were killed when trees fell on their cars Friday, police said.

The National Weather Service expected wind gusts of up to 40 mph (64 kph) in coastal areas Saturday, down from Friday's hurricane-force gusts.

"The primary remaining hazard is all the floodwater including the effects of the high tide with the continued onshore flow of the wind," said Patrick Burke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center in Maryland. "The damaging winds we saw yesterday have calmed down just a bit. But it's still going to be a windy day."

Burke said the main part of the storm was about 350 miles (560 kilometers) southeast of Cape Cod on Saturday morning. With the storm so far away, the lingering hazards showed how powerful and massive it is, he said.

The flood warnings were scheduled to expire Saturday afternoon in southern areas of the Northeast, and early Sunday morning in New England.

More than 2 million homes and businesses remained without power Saturday morning, including nearly 490,000 in Pennsylvania and 385,000 in Massachusetts.

The storm swept in Friday and prompted more than 2,800 flight cancellations, mostly in the Northeast. LaGuardia and Kennedy airports in New York City were brought to a near standstill.

Amtrak suspended service along the Northeast corridor, from Washington to Boston, until at least Saturday morning.

The other five people killed during the storm included two children. A man and a 6-year-old boy were killed in different parts of Virginia, while an 11-year-old boy in New York state and a man in Newport, Rhode Island, both died. A 77-year-old woman died after being struck by a branch outside her home near Baltimore.

Floodwaters in Quincy, Massachusetts, submerged cars and trapped people in their homes. Local first-responders and National Guard troops rescued dozens of people overnight.

Alp Yokus, 12, and his parents were among those rescued in Quincy as the tide rose near their home.

"When it really came up, we just stayed in, hoping," Alp told The Boston Globe. "For the first floor, some of it leaked in through the walls."

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